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Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates The Forgotten War That Changed American History Brian Kilmeade Don Yaeger Books

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Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates The Forgotten War That Changed American History Brian Kilmeade Don Yaeger Books

This represents a solid portrayal of the war against the Barbary pirates. Thomas Jefferson, early on in his career with the national government, had decided that paying off the pirates was not the best approach. He felt that the United States should consider a more muscular response.

The Barbary countries preyed upon shipping from Europe, the United States, and others. Their desire was to receive money from these countries to prevent the piracy. The countries along the coast could be nasty--making slaves, essentially, of the captives. Some reviewers have suggested that there is a lesson here for dealing with radical Islam. This was not radical Islam: it was pirates out for profit. The question--How to deal with this?

After a time, Jefferson's views became considered more seriously. The United States decided to pay for the development of a navy, which could--if the nation decided--take on the countries of northern Africa. One of the worst of these was Tripoli.

The book does a fine job of describing the evolution of American policy toward the pirates. There were failures (the capture of the Philadelphia), there were successes (Stephen Decatur's destruction of the Philadelphia). The work of naval commanders such as Preble and Barron and the somewhat bizarre efforts of a diplomat, Eaton, to create a march on Tripoli by the leader's brother. Nonetheless, in the end, the Americans gained victory over Tripoli and overawed some of the other countries as well.

Lessons of this effort are discussed at the close of the book.

A fascinating analysis of the war against the Barbary pirates. . . .


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Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates The Forgotten War That Changed American History Brian Kilmeade Don Yaeger Books Reviews

This is a readable account of the individuals and circumstances concerning the fledgling United States and the Barbary pirates. Engrossing narrative moves you through the years of frustrations and ineptitude of our early navy. Although my impression had been that the Marines had a major role in subduing the Mediterranean pirates, Kilmeade minimizes their contribution. Since the Marine hymn memorializes the Marine role - "From The Halls of Montezuma To The Shores of Tripoli" I had the impression there was more Marine action than portrayed in the book. Indeed, diplomacy was the primary focus, enforced by meaningful shows of force by our increasing and formidable naval forces.
This book is worth your attention if you are interested in U.S. history, our early Federal governing body, Thomas Jefferson, et.al, and the beginning and subsequent growth of our Naval presence on the world scene.
This is a summary and analysis of the Brian Kilmeade and Don Yaeger book, Thomas Jefferson and the Tripoli Pirates The Forgotten War That Changed American History. This conflict, one of America's first as a fledgling independent nation, has been called America's first war on terror. Barbary pirates had taken to capturing sea vessels, disrupting trade, and enslaving seafarers and demanding a peace price to leave those ships alone (for ever decreasing periods of time at ever increasing prices) and ransom (at ever increasing prices) for the sailors. Europe's developed nations paid them off, but Jefferson knew that could not stand. After winning support at home, he built up a small but effective navy, and through it won a victory that established America's reputation as a strong nation able to defend itself and its interests abroad.

The main points discussed are
1. The war with Tripoli, while often overlooked, was important in establishing America's reputation as a nation able to defend itself. This was especially critical so soon after the revolution as it warned European powers not to try to try to take over the states and turn them back into colonies.
2. The pirates captured us ships and sailors, mistreating and sometimes killing them, for both ransom and for religious leaders. The US sailors were primarily Christian. The pirates were primarily Muslim. The two groups have a long history of animosity.
3. Pirates disrupted and sometimes completely halted trade in the area, trade that was critical for the US to repay its revolutionary war debts and build its own economy. Some nations paid for safe passage, for as long as the pirates chose to grant it, but the US would not be able, nor willing, to keep that up for long.
4. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson disagreed on how to handle the pirates. Adams argues for peace. Jefferson for war. The points both made are fairly well laid out in this excerpt.
5. The naval fleet, while small, was effective largely due to good leadership. This book does not spend much time on clashes or tactics, it being a small summary, but it does cover some of the more important leaders involved, such as Edward Preble.
6. This conflict, over sea and over land via Egypt, served as a proving ground for the US. Again, specific battles are not detailed, but the efforts of William Eaton are discussed at length. He was a very interesting figure, and I plan to read more about him in particular.
7. Data was kept carefully classified until ready to be acted upon. Actions against a captured US vessel or to install a new Tripoli leader were kept secret for many reasons. The excerpt author notes that "the incident has not made the pages of many history books, landing the plan in pseudo secrecy once again".
8. At some points in the conflict, leadership proved ineffective due to intrinsic or extrinsic factors. Captain Richard Valentine Morris, for example, is discussed at length.

I am of the opinion that history ought to be taught first from a high level, to get a sense of all the major events in broad brush strokes, just to get one's bearings. Then come down to this level, skimming quickly over the entirety of US history, or whatever history you're studying. Then get into the weeds with the details of major events. Most schools start in the weeds and students struggle to get perspective. I would recommend anyone interested in learning more about American history, or for parents who have children starting to study American history, gather up a good collection short works like these and go through them in chronological order.

One of the things I most appreciate about these guides, especially in this work, is that the last section explains the author's credentials in the subject area.

I received a sample in exchange for an honest review.
I'm not just a romance reader! I love history and I really enjoyed this book. I looked up the Barbary pirates online and found a timetable to follow. The book went into more detail that I found very interesting. The United States had barely won their independence from England, when their sailing vessels, trading in the Mediterranean Sea were attacked by pirates from Tunisia, Morocco, & Tripoli (Libya,) The ships and crew members were seized and the men were forced into hard labor. The pirates asked for ransoms to be paid. After he became president, Thomas Jefferson, did not want to pay ransom. He was able to convince congress to build armed Navy ships to protect the trading vessels in the Mediterranean countries. There were two wars and America proved to Europe that they could defend themselves against the pirates and again after they won the battle against Great Britain during the war of 1812. It was after that war that they finally defeated the pirates for good.
This represents a solid portrayal of the war against the Barbary pirates. Thomas Jefferson, early on in his career with the national government, had decided that paying off the pirates was not the best approach. He felt that the United States should consider a more muscular response.

The Barbary countries preyed upon shipping from Europe, the United States, and others. Their desire was to receive money from these countries to prevent the piracy. The countries along the coast could be nasty--making slaves, essentially, of the captives. Some reviewers have suggested that there is a lesson here for dealing with radical Islam. This was not radical Islam it was pirates out for profit. The question--How to deal with this?

After a time, Jefferson's views became considered more seriously. The United States decided to pay for the development of a navy, which could--if the nation decided--take on the countries of northern Africa. One of the worst of these was Tripoli.

The book does a fine job of describing the evolution of American policy toward the pirates. There were failures (the capture of the Philadelphia), there were successes (Stephen Decatur's destruction of the Philadelphia). The work of naval commanders such as Preble and Barron and the somewhat bizarre efforts of a diplomat, Eaton, to create a march on Tripoli by the leader's brother. Nonetheless, in the end, the Americans gained victory over Tripoli and overawed some of the other countries as well.

Lessons of this effort are discussed at the close of the book.

A fascinating analysis of the war against the Barbary pirates. . . .